[SoCalGuy]

So as reported before, my Karma a few weeks back decided it no longer wanted to charge. The dealer replaced my HV battery and my onboard charger (I'm on my third now). I've plugged it into my brand new 240V Chargepoint charging station and it starts up at about 3.5-3.6KW... but after a few minutes, it then drops down to about 1.2KW and then oscillates between 0.5 and 0.8kw. In 10 hours of charging with my Level 2 charger, I only got 11 miles of electric range. Has anyone else had this problem? I'm going to try another charging station but I highly doubt its my home charger.

PS - I don't hear any fan noise while its charging (its about 65 deg overnight in the garage, and during the day, its in mid to high 70s).

 

[Fabulist]

So as reported before, my Karma a few weeks back decided it no longer wanted to charge. The dealer replaced my HV battery and my onboard charger (I'm on my third now). I've plugged it into my brand new 240V Chargepoint charging station and it starts up at about 3.5-3.6KW... but after a few minutes, it then drops down to about 1.2KW and then oscillates between 0.5 and 0.8kw. In 10 hours of charging with my Level 2 charger, I only got 11 miles of electric range. Has anyone else had this problem? I'm going to try another charging station but I highly doubt its my home charger.

PS - I don't hear any fan noise while its charging (its about 65 deg overnight in the garage, and during the day, its in mid to high 70s).

Sounds like you need a new battery.

 

[michaelCA]

I had similar problem and my internal charger got replaced. I was charging 2kW at a level 2 charger.

 

[ct-fiskerbuzz]

So as reported before, my Karma a few weeks back decided it no longer wanted to charge. The dealer replaced my HV battery and my onboard charger (I'm on my third now). I've plugged it into my brand new 240V Chargepoint charging station and it starts up at about 3.5-3.6KW... but after a few minutes, it then drops down to about 1.2KW and then oscillates between 0.5 and 0.8kw. In 10 hours of charging with my Level 2 charger, I only got 11 miles of electric range. Has anyone else had this problem? I'm going to try another charging station but I highly doubt its my home charger.

PS - I don't hear any fan noise while its charging (its about 65 deg overnight in the garage, and during the day, its in mid to high 70s).

I'm still only using the "convenience charger" that came with mine (L2 won't happen until the house is done, or maybe a little before that if they get it all hooked up and the new driveway done too, before the house is actually done), but I find that the low temp fan stays off as long as it starts out off (sometimes this takes waiting a few minutes, or going back out and disconnecting and then reconnecting the J1772 connector).

The inside of the garage at the temporary apartment runs about 75 degrees F right now during the day (highs here are low to mid 90s now, lows getting almost down to 60).

 

[SoCalGuy]

@Fab - I just got a new battery literally yesterday from the dealer AND they replaced the onboard charger (I'm now on my third onboard charger).

Do your fans all turn on when you charge?

 

[michaelCA]

Today I returned home with 0 miles battery and the ICE was running. It was about 90F in Chino. Then I locked the car and the fan was running. I plugged in the normal charger and went inside. Two hours later I went to the car the fan was still running. Unplugged it, waited for couple of seconds and the fan shut off. Then I plugged it back in and the fan did NOT turn back on. Just went outside again and the car is charging without the fan. I have 6.28 on.
I did not check but I am quite sure the battery does not charge at all or very slowly if the fan is running like that. It is quite annoying that you have to wait for about 10 min before you can start charging the car.

 

[dennis]

It is quite annoying that you have to wait for about 10 min before you can start charging the car.

It is actually 90-120 seconds, which is the time it takes for the computers to shut down. The fan goes off at that time. After you plug in, the fans may come back on if the battery coolant is really hot, but usually they don't.

 

[michaelCA]

It is quite annoying that you have to wait for about 10 min before you can start charging the car.

It is actually 90-120 seconds, which is the time it takes for the computers to shut down. The fan goes off at that time. After you plug in, the fans may come back on if the battery coolant is really hot, but usually they don't.

Ok, I understand, but just standing around the car for few minutes for nothing is still annoying. I don't understand why this can't be fixed...

 

[flying dutchman]

I think someone suggested to switch off the a/c before shutting down the car so that the fan goes off. You have the climate to try. Let us know if it works.

 

[Stefan]

Today I returned home with 0 miles battery and the ICE was running. It was about 90F in Chino. Then I locked the car and the fan was running. I plugged in the normal charger and went inside. Two hours later I went to the car the fan was still running. Unplugged it, waited for couple of seconds and the fan shut off. Then I plugged it back in and the fan did NOT turn back on. Just went outside again and the car is charging without the fan. I have 6.28 on.
I did not check but I am quite sure the battery does not charge at all or very slowly if the fan is running like that. It is quite annoying that you have to wait for about 10 min before you can start charging the car.

If the fans are running, the following procedure helps in my case:
1. Plug the car,
2. After a few seconds, the fans are stopping.
3. If they come back,I unplug, wait some seconds to stop the fans any the plug it in again.

Otherwise, the car won't be charged at all.

The funny thing: sometimes, the fans are starting again, but due to the taken procedure, I can ignore them... they will stop after some minutes... Up to an hour, possibly to do their job --> cooling

Stefan

 

[Sigurd]

I have found this procedure to work best:
1. Turn off the A/C as you pull into the garage.
2. Set your charger to delay charging by 1hr (I use the Schneider charger from Home Depot)
3. Plug in the charger cord immediately.

By doing this, the fans do not come on when charging starts (maybe they do if the battery temp gets higher, but nothing like they do if the A/C is still on when you park.
Also, with a 1hr delay, there is no need for the car to go to sleep before you plug in. If your charger does not have a delay option, then you have to wait 2 minutes for the car to shut down.

 

[ejo3rd]

In the last town hall notes they suggest turning off the air conditioning when you shut off the car to prevent the fan from running when you plug in. I tried it after driving to work last week. I can plug in immediately and the fan no longer runs. No more waiting around for the car to go to sleep.

 

[Stefan]

More than 100.000€ to obey my car's bad software? No way. One wife is enough!
They should better fix this.

 

[Karma 2012]

More than 100.000€ to obey my car's bad software? No way. One wife is enough!
They should better fix this.

I know, I wish I can upgrade the wife too

 

[SoCalGuy]

Update: Now my car doesn't charge at all (same problem pre-battery and charger swap). I tried two separate Level 2 chargers. So now my car is back with the dealer.

 

[Fabulist]

Update: Now my car doesn't charge at all (same problem pre-battery and charger swap). I tried two separate Level 2 chargers. So now my car is back with the dealer.

That sucks.

I seem to recall that someone had a problem with the battery cooling system (air in the coolant lines, or something along those lines) which then caused the computer to shut the charging cycle down prematurely. That person also went through battery/charger/inverter/EVSE swaps without solving the problem until the real problem was discovered. You may want to suggest to the dealer to check out the entire low-temperature cooling system to make sure the problem is not triggered from that quarter.

Hope they figure it out soon.

 

[michaelCA]

Hey ejo3rd, I tried "turn off the aircon before charging" and it worked! It was 90F today and I was driving about 30 miles. 1 min before parking I turned off the aircon and it worked perfectly. Thanks for the advice.

 

[aefontaine]

I had a similar charging issue with my car early on a the problem was the valve for the battery coolant was not opening when charging and this would let the battery heat up and the car would shut off the charge after only adding enough charge for about 10 miles. You may want to get your technician to check the battery coolant system functionality.

 

[SoCalGuy]

@Fab @aefontaine thanks for the info - will let my dealer know to check that. i never hear the cooling fans come on when charging so you guys might be right!

 

[SoCalGuy]

So Fisker said they it's my home charger that "fried" the onboard charging unit. I'm using Charepoint's Coloumb charger. Has anyone ever heard of this happening? I thought chargers were designed so that this couldn't happen.